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A Photographers Packing List:

 In your first week you will spend 4 days with a professional photographer who will teach you photography skills. To get the most out of the course the essential items you need to bring are:

– your SLR digital camera

– At least two batteries & chargers

Lenses  

It will be useful for you to have at least a couple of lenses. We strongly advise that if you have only one, it should be a zoom lens with a long focal range, e.g. 55-200 or 70-200 as a starting point. Whilst not essential, you will also benefit if you have a wider angle lens such as an 18-55mm (or wider if you have it, but don’t buy one especially) so that you can photograph landscapes and the night sky. A nice third option (but by no means essential) would be a macro lens, or a less costly alternative, macro converter ring/s which can be as cheap as under £25.00/€28/$32

 

Memory Cards At least 2 memory cards required (16 GB or higher)
 

Storage

 

 external hard drive and usb sticks
Adapters  

 

The correct adaptor for the electrical sockets, as per this web page http://www.walkabouttravelgear.com/elect.htm

 

Hardware and software  

 

A full-size laptop with Adobe Lightroom Classic CC already installed, and to have checked that you are able to download your images into it on the laptop you are bringing. (If you have a new camera or have updated the firmware recently you need to ensure that Lightroom has been updated so please DO check this before you come.

 

If you do not already have Lightroom, please buy a monthly subscription as their free trial period has now been reduced from 30 days to 7 days. The subscription costs approximately £9.98/€11/$13 per month, and you can cancel your subscription at any time. If you, therefore, decide after the project that you don’t want to continue paying, it will not have been a great expense.

 

As of October 2017, Lightroom have split Lightroom CC into two different subscriptions – please, therefore, ensure that you have Lightroom CLASSIC CC as all teaching will be done using this version.

As the Adobe site can be confusing, below is an example of the different plans available. You need the middle plan shown below, (The Photography plan) which includes the all-new Lightroom CC, 20GB of cloud storage, Lightroom Classic CC, and Photoshop CC.

 

(Regarding equipment) you will also benefit from bringing a tripod. It’s not essential, but you won’t be able to benefit from a few of the techniques that will be taught without one.

After the course, you will be spending time on Game Reserves and also surrounding areas to take photos and building a database of pictures, while building your own portfolio. Part of your duties is to collect essential data and photographs for research while putting into practice the theory learned in the first week. The conservation work you’ll be involved may include control of alien plants, creating watering holes, road clearing, etc.

Facebook
If you are a Facebook user you may find it helpful to look at our Facebook page prior to coming for information, photos and a better understanding of the projects.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/African-Impact-South-Africa-Conservation-Projects
Past volunteers have also found it useful to share this link on their own page before you leave and suggest friends and family like it also so they can see any posts we write while you are here and also learn more about the project you are going to be at.
Your internet access will be very limited while you are here (only available in the evenings and weekends) so it is a great way for them to know you are okay and maybe see photos of you too!

Wish List
A wish list has been attached for items that can be used on all projects so any of these items, which you can bring, would be gratefully received.

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